"Begin!" The shout echoed throughout the arena, as everyone exploded in movement. That is, everyone except for Kai. For a brief moment, Kai stayed unmoving, unreacting to the world around him. As blades clashed, mana was thrown around and things went flying, Kai stayed still beneath the gazes of thousands.
A curved blade arched towards Kai, bringing him out of his frozen state. Letting himself collapse beneath the incoming blade, as he activated his skills. The world slowed down in Kai's eyes, while his body seemed to slightly merge with the shadows around him, enabling Kai to quickly and precisely spin around with a kick. Kai hooked his leg behind the ankles of his attacker, and pulled him to the ground, before stabbing at the downed man with his spear.
The spear alone wasn't enough, as it stuck through the right shoulder. Kai's opponent went to grab the spear with his undamaged hand, but wishing to end things quickly so as to not waste his mana, Kai slashed at the neck with his gladius. The tip of Kai's blade bit barely one twentieth of an inch through the neck, before his target vanished with a pop. Kai deactivated his skills, with one opponent defeated, and looked around the arena.
Arson was in a duel with a woman fighting with metal arms, and he wasn't doing very well. As Kai watched, the woman blocked Arson's attack by grabbing his sword with one hand, before stabbing her hand, through Arson's abdomen. Lots of blood flowed out as the woman pulled her hand away, but Arson quickly healed himself.
A quiet thump came from behind Kai, and he quickly turned around. Behind Kai, a person was holding an arrow of ice sticking from their cheek. A second thump, followed by a pop as a second ice arrow flew where the eye of the man had been an instant before. Kai quickly sent a thankful nod to Droozle, who seemed to be doing well keeping his distance from any opponents, before heading towards Arson.
Kai activated his skills again, and spear first, he leaped towards the back of the woman facing Arson. His friend was surrounded by blood, and had to be running low on mana from healing himself multiple times over. But with surprise on his side, Kai had the advantage.
As if the woman had a third eye behind her back, the woman attempted to dodge when Kai came within a few yards of her. Unfortunately for the unnamed woman, Kai's spear still landed in the side of her ribcage, shocking her with sparking electricity. Taking advantage of the surprise, Arson stabbed at the woman's neck, causing her to teleport away with a pop.
"Thanks," Arson quickly said, as Kai deactivated his skills, feeling slightly drained from his mana use. "Could you toss me? I don't think I'll be able to fight if I use any mana, and I'm not at full health." Arson continued, pointing out a half healed hole in his chest from one of the defeated woman's finger stabs.
Helping out his friend, Kai did his best to lift Arson, and throw him. Then he repeated the act a couple more times to get his friend back to full health. Prepared to fight alongside Arson, Kai grabbed his spear with both hands.
"Anyone who might be a good target?" Kai asked.
"Not sure, all the low level ones have already lost. Droozle might do with our help though."
Sure enough, Droozle was doing his best to fight off a gladiator who seemed to appear from place to place. Not able to keep his distance, Droozle had covered sections of himself with ice armor, and was left fending his opponent off with blades of ice.
Kai activated his skills once again, in an attempt to get to Droozle as quickly as possible. But he would be more of a distraction than anything, as Droozle was fighting in one of the few spots of sunlight in the arena, uncovered by the sails above. A flaming punch appeared out of nowhere, aimed directly at Kai's face. He felt the very tip of his nose burn, and then Kai was on his back, on a bed, in a room filled with more beds, many of which had other people laying on them.
A cool sensation spread throughout Kai's entire body, taking away the pain from his slightly burned nose, as a person walked towards him. "Do you feel any pain?" The soft voice of his healer asked Kai, to which he shook his head. "Alright, in that case you can wait here for the battle to be over."
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Two minutes later, Droozle appeared in a bed near Kai, groaning from pain. The same person who had healed Kai, quickly did so to Droozle as well. That… wasn't as fun as I had thought. I like monsters better." Droozle uttered once he noticed Kai.
One minute after Droozle's appearance, Arson too appeared in a bed, laughing, at the exact same time as a burly, blood covered man appeared on another bed. After Arson was healed, he stood up and walked towards his two friends already in the room. "That was great! We have to do this again sometime. I got like, five people out, and made it to third or fourth place!"
"I did get two people, but that was painful." Droozle said.
"I know! The adrenaline, the excitement, and the crowd cheering, it's amazing! Not to mention, I just made 500 dollars." Arson exclaimed, before continuing to enthusiastically talk. "I just saw you Droozle pop out, and I'm almost completely out of mana. Then this man out of nowhere punches me with a flaming fist. I lose most of my health, and if I had healed myself, I would be too exhausted from mana loss to move. So then, for the first time, I used my second rare skill. Blood pact, sacrifice your life to deal three damage to a single opponent per hit point. I would have died if I hadn't been immediately sent here and healed, but I got us both out at the same time!" Arson laughed.
Droozle was quiet, and based on his expression he'd just deemed Arson insane. Kai couldn't say he disagreed. He understood wanting the fifty gold Arson earned, but from what Kai understood, Arson didn't exactly have a need for the money. He was a pure adrenaline junkie instead.
Not long after that, the second last survivor of the free for all appeared in the room, ending the match. With that, they were free to return the equipment they'd borrowed, and take their own items from the lockers back. Once he'd dressed in his own leather armor, and taken his own weapons, Kai opened his notifications.
Quest complete: Free for All, part 1. Your reputation increased by +45. 30 gold coins transferred to your account. You did not achieve the additional quest.
Skill: shadow stride, novice 4, has increased to novice 6. Skill: Thunderspear dance, novice 5, has increased to novice 6. Skill: lightning reflexes, novice 4, has increased to novice 7. Skill: healing toss, Novice 1, has increased to novice 3. Melee combat, novice 7, has increased to novice 10.
Stamina has increased from 11 to 14. Hit points have increased from 17 to 18. Mana has increased from 18 to 23.
Everything had increased, or more accurately, everything even slightly combat related. He was level 10 with his melee combat skill already, so close to the beginner stage. "Arson, I agree with you. We are absolutely doing this again. I got so many levels in everything."
Droozle stared intently at Kai for a few seconds. "How the hell are you already Level 10?" He exclaimed.
"It's my title. Double experience gain on novice and beginner skills." Kai answered,
"Yeah, that'd explain it. What's your stats at?"
"18 health, 14 stamina and 23 mana." Kai proudly said, only to get a grimace in turn.
"Most people at your level have most of their pools in between 25 and 30. And how the heck do you have only 14 stamina? You do melee combat!"
"Maybe it's because I fight with my movement skill, so I use mana instead of stamina when I move."
"Probably." Droozle sighed, "You might want to balance yourself a bit better. High level skills aren't bad, but remember that everyone has more health, mana and stamina than you'd expect."
"How do I do that?" Kai asked.
"Get injured, exercise, and use a lot of mana often." Arson told. "Could be something for you to do while we wait for the next gladiator match we can join. I asked, and the next match is tomorrow evening in-game. I'll log out to eat, and after that I'll log out for the day."
"I'll probably do the same, though I'm not sure if I'll join you in your fighting. I might visit a library instead." Droozle said.
A while later, Droozle and Arson found a nice place to log out, leaving Kai alone. He would get his stats bumped up while he waited for the next gladiator match, and after that it'd be time to sleep. Then a realization struck Kai's head out of nowhere, it would be the last night Kai would ever spend in the hospital. Just one more night, and he would be free for eternity.